With only five months of this year elapsed, I’m nominating the president of the University of Toronto, Meric Gertler, as the most distinguished Canadian personality of 2024. On May 2, the administration of the university he directs stated that it would not tolerate the use of physical force, threats, or intimidation, or the occupation of spaces that prevent their use by others on the campus of the university. Nor would hate speech, threats, and other discriminatory language or behaviour, which do not constitute peaceful protest, be tolerated on the campus. In gentle terms in the circumstances, but by the standards of contemporary university administrations here and elsewhere, commendably purposefully, the university declared that contravention of law or well-known university policies “can have potential consequences.”